Paddling

Board position: the foundation

Everything about paddling starts with where you lie on the board. Get this wrong and no amount of arm strength saves you. Lie in the middle of the board, chest slightly up, toes near the tail. There is a single sweet spot for your body weight, and finding it is the first thing to nail.

The fix is feedback. Shift forward until the nose starts to dip, then back off slightly. Most people naturally lie too far back because it feels safer. Nudge forward. You will find the sweet spot within about three sessions, and after that your body remembers it automatically. Keep your chest up like a gentle cobra pose, head looking forward, not down. Looking down drops your weight forward and buries the nose.

• ·Too far forward: the nose digs into the water (that is pearling when it happens catching a wave), the board plows instead of glides, and you go nowhere.
• ·Too far back: the nose lifts up, the tail drags, and you push a wall of water with every stroke.

The stroke

Think swimming freestyle, not doggy-paddle. That mental image alone corrects half of beginner paddling. The stroke is one arm at a time, deep, long, and unhurried.

The counterintuitive part: slower, longer strokes usually move you faster than quick, shallow ones, because each stroke actually grabs water. Paddling is not about turnover speed, it is about how much water each pull moves.

• ·Reach forward and enter the water fingertips first, a little in front of your head.
• ·Cup your hand slightly. Fingers a bit apart works well, water gets trapped between them and the whole hand acts bigger.
• ·Pull deep and long, all the way back past your hip. Shallow splashy strokes do almost nothing.
• ·Rotate at the shoulder, not just the elbow. The reach comes from your shoulder rolling forward.
• ·Alternate sides in a rhythm. Steady and smooth beats frantic and splashy.

Getting past the waves

Paddling out means getting through the waves that are rolling in at you. How you do it depends on your board and the wave size.

Which one applies to you depends on your board, which is exactly why the board you learn on matters. We help you pick it in the Board Matcher.

• ·Small foam, any board: push up on your hands so the whitewater passes between you and the board, then keep paddling.
• ·Bigger wave, shortboard: duck-dive. Push the nose under with your hands, then the tail with a knee or foot, and slip under the wave. Push deep, halfway is not enough.
• ·Bigger wave, longboard or foamie: turtle-roll. Grab the rails, flip the board upside down, hang there while the wave passes, then flip back. Named after you-know-who, and very on brand.

Paddling for the wave

Catching a wave is its own kind of paddling, and it is where beginners lose the most waves. When you commit to a wave, commit fully. Two soft strokes get you nothing. Six hard, deep strokes get you in.

The most common reason a beginner misses a catchable wave is under-committing: a couple of gentle strokes, a hopeful glance, and the wave rolls past underneath. The wave will do most of the work of standing you up, but only if you match its speed first. Your job is those few seconds of full-effort paddling.

1. 01Spot the wave early and turn to face the beach, board pointed at shore.
2. 02Look over your shoulder to judge the timing as the wave approaches.
3. 03Start paddling before the wave arrives, not as it hits.
4. 04Paddle like you are chasing your bus. Hard, deep strokes until you feel the wave take the board.
5. 05Keep paddling two strokes past the moment you think you have it.